The invention relates to a photoconductor for emitting and/or receiving electromagnetic waves.
Photoconductors are used, for example, as components of Terahertz antennas, wherein Terahertz radiation may be emitted by the photoconductor upon irradiating the antenna with an optical beat signal or a pulsed optical signal. The optical beat signal creates free carriers in the photoconductor which are accelerated by a voltage applied to the photoconductor, the accelerated free carriers generating radiation in the Terahertz region. A photoconductor for the generation of Terahertz radiation is disclosed, for example, in WO 2008/110329 A2. The photoconductor described in that reference comprises a photoconductive region confined between two semiconductor interfaces, wherein the semiconductor interfaces comprise impurities for trapping free charge carriers produced in the photoconductive region.